New For 2015?

[Kerfuffle]

Its hardly unusual for theme parks to only offer their own brands of food. Maybe in your opinion but you can talk for the millions of guests..

Remember in the good old Tussauds days when theme parks had their OWN shops and restaurants? For instance, Chessington had the Black Forest Chateau and Cafe Casbah, while Thorpe had Bush BBQ in Ranger County. Later on in DIC Tussauds years, these were replaced by high street brands like KFC, McDonalds (later to be replaced by Burger King of course) and Pizza Hut! Basically, the point is that I think what Merlin provide is pretty much a nod to the Tussauds years - using their own brand and not a known one off the high street.

[Benin]

McDonalds was at Towers and Chessie LONG before DIC ever got involved in Tussauds...

[jon81uk]

McDonalds was at Towers and Chessie LONG before DIC ever got involved in Tussauds...

 

I think it was 1998 when the branded outlets opened in Alton Towers & Chessington.

 

 

Given that at Thorpe you could eat at Bar 360 or Ranger BBQ for a lot cheaper than Pizza Hut (which was always packed solid in the first place) isn't stupidity, but sensible...

 

And 30p saving from 20% discount? Dunno what maths you're using there, but if we say that it costs £10 for the buffet, then with the MAP discount of 20% that's £2 off... So you're basing it off the separate pricing structures (Pizza Hut was £11 last year right? And the others of a similar pricing?) which will be made redundant once the change comes into place...

 

 

At Alton Towers the own brand Pizza Pasta buffet is £10.95 so £8.76 after MAP discount, The Pizza Hut Buffet at Thorpe I think is either £8.95 or £9.95 anyway so MAP discount is either about the same price or a little cheaper.

[Dodge2002]

It's probably the easier route, logistically, for Merlin to Copy and Paste their generic stores throughout every park.

It means they can all use the same supply chain. they all have the same equipment, food prep guidelines and training.

But I much prefer the non-chain brands that were around before this started to happen. Just look at the courtyard BBQ, Bar360 and the Calypso BBQ. they all offer superior food. at decent prices in my opinion. They should be doing more of this, not more Pizza Pasta Buffet type places.

 

I think its safe to say, as a whole, branded outlets within theme parks have had their day though. Especially when you consider Alton Towers, the park that pioneered the idea, now doesn't have a chain in sight.

[jon81uk]

It's probably the easier route, logistically, for Merlin to Copy and Paste their generic stores throughout every park.

It means they can all use the same supply chain. they all have the same equipment, food prep guidelines and training.

But I much prefer the non-chain brands that were around before this started to happen. Just look at the courtyard BBQ, Bar360 and the Calypso BBQ. they all offer superior food. at decent prices in my opinion. They should be doing more of this, not more Pizza Pasta Buffet type places.

 

 

Except Courtyard BBQ at AT and Calypso BBQ at TP serve almost the same menu. Bar 360 at TP and Woodcutters Bar & Grill at AT have very similar menus too. They are still taking similar ideas and adding them to all the parks. The only places that seem to be unique are Roast & Relish at TP and Chicken Shack at CWoA.

 

I do think it is better to have the Burger Kitchen brand so they have branded boxes and chip holders instead of just using generic cheap looking packaging.

[alexander]

I prefer fried chicken co to kfc and pizza pasta to Pizza Hut, but I dispute all the brands changing because I'm a student and £11 for a meal at pizza pasta is expensive even though it's the same cost as Pizza Hut and you get discount

Logic

Also, side note, the kebabs from amity kebab are lush

[Project LC]

Given that at Thorpe you could eat at Bar 360 or Ranger BBQ for a lot cheaper than Pizza Hut (which was always packed solid in the first place) isn't stupidity, but sensible...

And 30p saving from 20% discount? Dunno what maths you're using there, but if we say that it costs £10 for the buffet, then with the MAP discount of 20% that's £2 off... So you're basing it off the separate pricing structures (Pizza Hut was £11 last year right? And the others of a similar pricing?).

Pizza pasta will be £10.99 while this year pizza hut was £9.99 so £1.30. Originally I thought pizza hut was £8.99 hence why I said 30p.

Also I am fine with home brand food in the parks but merlins is just awful. Burger kitchen is just the worst. No good points about it at all. Chicken co uses about 9 tonnes of pepper on each piece of chicken. Pizza pasta just isn't very nice, would pick pizza hut over it, regardless of price. Calypso BBQ always has a wait, no indoor seating. Bar 360 nice food, but the system it has is annoying. Having a waiter to take your order would be far better and set it aside from the calypso BBQ, because the only difference between those 2 at the moment is that one has heating.

A balance between home brands and chains would be better. It works for cedar fair and six flags. Don't see why it cant work for merlin.

[Coaster]

I don't visit Burger King because the one in Amity area go my order wrong 3 times and over charged me. 

Hate this in fast food eateries!  You should have gone back and told them.

 

 

Overall I am not against in house brands, but they have to be done right.  Calypso BBQ is a great example, it's my favourite outlet at Thorpe and usually where I eat.  Pizza Hut however was much better than the Pizza Pasta at Alton Towers, however Chessington's seems to be better quality so hopefully Thorpe's one will be more like Chessie's.  I'll never eat in a Burger Kitchen again, I had a meal in the one at Chessington once and it was rubbish.

[Project LC]

I refuse to eat at burger kitchen. The difference between large and normal is nonexistant, only the price. The buns were stale, the chips where cold, got half of our order wrong, tatsed of cardboard, crowded and overpriced. Burger king is far superior.

Home brands are fine, but only when done properly. Unfortuantly I dont think merlin will do them properly and I expect to see all the same mistakes at the other parks appear at Thorpe.

[JoshC.]

The only problem I've ever had with the food in an in-house eatery is Burger Kitchen (indeed, I ate there once last year and have never gone back...). 

 

Fried Chicken Co. is great, Pizza Pasta is nice, Chicken Shack is alright (though no Greedy Goblin), Mexican Cantina is lovely.  The original places at Thorpe (Kebabs, R&R, etc.) are great too.  Other than Burger Kitchen, I have had no problems with the quality - or the price - of the Merlin places.  Getting more in house places is only a good thing in my eyes!

[Mark9]

I refuse to eat at burger kitchen. The difference between large and normal is nonexistant, only the price. The buns were stale, the chips where cold, got half of our order wrong, tatsed of cardboard, crowded and overpriced. Burger king is far superior.

Home brands are fine, but only when done properly. Unfortuantly I dont think merlin will do them properly and I expect to see all the same mistakes at the other parks appear at Thorpe.

 

Shame, maybe you should stop visiting then or maybe tell someone that can effect change like, I don't know, Thorpe itself. 

[Matt 236]

Ive eaten at most Merlin eateries and they've been pretty good.

I think pizza pasta at thorpe will be a good move ImO plus more indoor seating too is s good point.

Fried Chicken places at Merlin parks are surprisingly good actually, went to the Chessington one this year.

[Project LC]

I have messaged thorpe itself. As always it will take 7 days to respond and will be a generic response that answers nothing. I visit thorpe for the rides, the rest is just bad. If I could I would go else where but there isnt anywhere which is near by that offers thrills. So when you suggest stop visiting the answer is I would if there was an alternative. So until there is a valid alternative I'm going to keep going and try to convince the public that thorpe isnt as amazing as they think it is. In the hope that thorpe step up their game to be the disney competitors they want to be.

[JoshC.]

>Doesn't like Thorpe Park.

>Goes to Thorpe Park, increasing attendance figures, to show that the public don't think Thorpe odd an amazing place.

Perfect sense.

If you truly didn't like the place, show them by voting with your feet and don't go. Otherwise it makes your argument seen rather pointless and unnecessary.

[Kerfuffle]

>Doesn't like Thorpe Park.

>Goes to Thorpe Park, increasing attendance figures, to show that the public don't think Thorpe odd an amazing place.

You missed something.

 

>Posts on a Thorpe Park Fansite.

[TPJames]

I couldn't agree more about burger kitchen, been forced in there twice at chessington by my friends and will never go back. The food was quite frankly disgusting at a fairly high price. Everything was cold as well as had been waiting on the side counter before we ordered for someone to take(excluding the drinks which were warm as they had been pre-made as well). It wasn't even busy so I have no clue why they were doing this but food was of a poor quality anyway.

I have eaten at chicken shack and pizza pasta before and they were both of high quality. The fish and chips at both thorpe and the towers are also of a very good standard. Generally the in-brands are good and are cheap when you have a merlin pass. My only exclusion is the burger kitchen which I will try to avoid in the future.

[JoshC.]

You missed something.

 

>Posts on a Thorpe Park Fansite.

 

Nothing wrong with posting on an online forum and having negative opinions about the subject of said forum.  

So long as the negative opinions made are justifiable...

[Ricky]

I have messaged thorpe itself. As always it will take 7 days to respond and will be a generic response that answers nothing. I visit thorpe for the rides, the rest is just bad. If I could I would go else where but there isnt anywhere which is near by that offers thrills. So when you suggest stop visiting the answer is I would if there was an alternative. So until there is a valid alternative I'm going to keep going and try to convince the public that thorpe isnt as amazing as they think it is. In the hope that thorpe step up their game to be the disney competitors they want to be.

 

I'm sorry, but no. Just no. 

 

For the love of god just stop please! If you're not going to stop going to places then STOP moaning about it. I HATED Legoland with a passion, still do, and what have I done? Stopped going there, I am not a great fan of Chessington, so what have I done, reduced visits to once annually. 

 

Like most people who go to theme parks, as you have stated, they go there for the rides, they are not spending X amount of money to go to a food kiosk. 

 

This is what I do not understand, people have an utmost hatred of the park, and yet still go there frequently. If it's as bad as you say it is, then like Mark said, just don't go. Stop going. Never think about it again. Banish it from you're contradictory mind. 

 

Nobody is forcing you to go to TP, so when you say "I would stop going if there was an alternative" you're making it out like TP have embedded themselves into your mind and are forcing you to go. No. You can stop going whenever you want. You don't need to ride thrill rides to live a normal life.

 

Pizza pasta will be £10.99 while this year pizza hut was £9.99 so £1.30. Originally I thought pizza hut was £8.99 hence why I said 30p.

Also I am fine with home brand food in the parks but merlins is just awful. Burger kitchen is just the worst. No good points about it at all. Chicken co uses about 9 tonnes of pepper on each piece of chicken. Pizza pasta just isn't very nice, would pick pizza hut over it, regardless of price. Calypso BBQ always has a wait, no indoor seating. Bar 360 nice food, but the system it has is annoying. Having a waiter to take your order would be far better and set it aside from the calypso BBQ, because the only difference between those 2 at the moment is that one has heating.

A balance between home brands and chains would be better. It works for cedar fair and six flags. Don't see why it cant work for merlin.

 

It's a BBQ, not many BBQ's happen inside. Plus it has covered seating arrangements which is essentially indoor seating. Think of it as a house with the windows open. 

 

Of course mixed brands work, it was never ever the case of not working at Merlin parks. But there is a far too great money loss from them to keep running them. When you can have almost identical in-park brands with 100% profit back into the business, you'd be a fool not to go with park-owned-branding. 

 

If you ran a business and half you're potential profit was embezzled out of the park to an external company you'd sit there and go, why am I doing this when I could do it myself?

 

Pizza Hut - £9.99 Unlimited Buffet with Bottomless Drinks. No Discount possible.

Pizza Pasta - £10.99 Unlimited buffet with Bottomless Drinks. 20% Discount = £8.79 More bang for your buck.

[Project LC]

So are you saying that Thorpe is perfect. There must be others that go to Thorpe park because of the rides despite not liking a few other things. I think Thorpe has potential to be good but merlin are playing it so safe that its damaging the park. The fact they want to build a dark ride seems like a step in the right direction but then they go and do other stupid things like RnR. One step forward and two steps back. I'm not just going to sit back and let people fool themselves into thinking that the park has no faults.

I like thrill rides, I like the adrenaline. Thats why I go.

Pizza Pasta is cheaper for MAP but what about all those that don't have one. More expensive and worse quality.

[Ricky]

So are you saying that Thorpe is perfect. There must be others that go to Thorpe park because of the rides despite not liking a few other things. I think Thorpe has potential to be good but merlin are playing it so safe that its damaging the park. The fact they want to build a dark ride seems like a step in the right direction but then they go and do other stupid things like RnR. One step forward and two steps back.

 

Are you living in Cloud 9 or something!? 

 

I have never said TP is perfect, but no theme park in this pigging world is! You're delusional if you think otherwise. What I'm saying is after every single post of yours that I have read, you clearly have huge hate toward the park and yet still find yourself going on a frequent basis!

 

How can you say playing it safe!? Every ride in the world that opens, is a big risk to take, it can even make or break the company! 

 

The new dark ride is not a 'step in the right direction', its an investment to broaden themselves on the market. A step in the right direction, was when they opened Colossus, where they went from a small park with small annual guest figures to a park on the map. 

 

R 'N' R wasn't perfect no, but that is why it was a TRIAL  Nothing more nothing less, they where simply testing a new system, to ensure it worked, and the flaws dealt with. It's not THAT different from Disney's system. Which works really well, might I add after the great lengths of tweaking. 

 

You will be the death of me.

[Mark9]

So are you saying that Thorpe is perfect. There must be others that go to Thorpe park because of the rides despite not liking a few other things. I think Thorpe has potential to be good but merlin are playing it so safe that its damaging the park. The fact they want to build a dark ride seems like a step in the right direction but then they go and do other stupid things like RnR. One step forward and two steps back.

I like thrill rides, I like the adrenaline. Thats why I go.

 

The thing is I agree. Thorpe is the worst Merlin park (IMO) and has the most problems beyond just the rides. The difference though is I don't delude myself into thinking that I can go to Thorpe and convince others to see the errors of their ways. The other thing is Thorpe also has an incredible amount of positives but you seem so blinkered by other park visits (particularly Six Flags and Cedar Fair which you consistently bring up) that you refuse or won't allow yourself to just enjoy Thorpe. It's not the best theme park but its far from the being worst. Same with the food, I like the chicken company, I like Pizza Pasta and I love Bar360 and all are in house places.

[Project LC]

The first bit wasn't aimed at you. Believe it or not it takes time to type. Merlin are playing it safe. Relative to every other theme park they are playing it very safe. They don't invest the money, new ride for this year nothing. New ride for the season just gone, cheap dodgems and a short animation. Season before that, changed some rows around on a coaster. Not exactly a bold investment.

I honestly cant tell you a positive about Thorpe other than its near by. If I compare it to the rest of the UK then there are more positives but I'm not. I'm comparing it to the rest of the world which do theme parks to a far better standard.

[Marc]

The first bit wasn't aimed at you. Believe it or not it takes time to type. Merlin are playing it safe. Relative to every other theme park they are playing it very safe. They don't invest the money, new ride for this year nothing. New ride for the season just gone, cheap dodgems and a short animation. Season before that, changed some rows around on a coaster. Not exactly a bold investment.

I honestly cant tell you a positive about Thorpe other than its near by. If I compare it to the rest of the UK then there are more positives but I'm not. I'm comparing it to the rest of the world which do theme parks to a far better standard.

The parks you like to compare it to are also very different markets.

If anything we we're spoilt by years of high investment, it was never going to last for ever!

[JoshC.]

The first bit wasn't aimed at you. Believe it or not it takes time to type. Merlin are playing it safe. Relative to every other theme park they are playing it very safe. They don't invest the money, new ride for this year nothing. New ride for the season just gone, cheap dodgems and a short animation. Season before that, changed some rows around on a coaster. Not exactly a bold investment.

 

I think that the park's investments the past two year, relative to their position have been good:

 

2013:

-Make their big new investment more thrilling and better received.

-Create an unpopular thrill ride into a well-received family ride which helped with their shift in target market.

 

2014:

-An IP-themed land to further bring in more people from the new target market, to show that Thorpe Park can indeed accommodate for families with slightly older children.

 

If you say it as 'Turning some cars around, sticking in some dodgems and a 4D film', it's gonna sound awful.  But in Thorpe's position over the past couple of years, those investments have been necessary to help the park.  Totally agree they could have done more, but as Marc's pointed out, constant high-level investment won't last forever.  And those investments haven't made the park worse, which is always good.

[alexander]

Also, you moan that the cost of eating there is too expensive for a student. If you have money worries about eating there anyway, why don't you bring your own packed lunch and then you won't have to salvage Thorpe's apparent '****ty' food, as well as not wasting money on food you obviously don't want.